Here's a quick update of developments since yesterday. A more careful person would've just waited until today to release her first report, but I am not that person.

QoL Update: The Activities Menu and Gaming Screenshots

If you look at the top-left of your screen (on desktop) or inside the hamburger menu (on mobile), you'll see a new Activities menu. This will give members a more intuitive place to look for things to do.

The Activities menu contains the links to the Competitions page, Shadow Academy, and ACC that were under the Main menu, and the Gaming Information link from the former Gaming menu. For those of you who are into stats, the Activities menu also has an Activity Records page, where members can look up fiction and gaming activities they've completed (like in the Activity section of your dossier).

But wait, there's more!

James also rearranged the Admin page to make submitting gaming screenshots easier for mobile users. The "Submit Gaming Screenshot" link is now at the top of the mobile admin menu. We chose this as a compromise between adding the link to the Activities menu (we don't want it to bloat that menu), and making mobile members scroll all the way down to reach it.

We're going to use the feedback from these changes to guide further site updates, so if you have any suggestions, toss them in the Emissary Staff Suggestion Box.

Staffing Announcements

We're not currently taking applications for the vacant Magistrate position. However, if you're interested in working with the Emissary Staff in the future, read on.

At present, the Emissary is one of the most project-focused positions on the Council. Those projects require a wide variety of skills, some of which (like coding and graphics) are already hard to find in the Brotherhood. I don't want to keep already-rare members away from James and Malfearak because I might have work for them.

So, rather than hire a Magistrate for a period of time, I plan to hire on a project-by-project basis. You'll see more details on that when we actually need to hire someone.

In the meantime, if you're looking to get involved in Emissary work long-term, your best option is to think of projects and put them in the Emissary Staff Suggestion Box. (Note: "whatever you need me to do" is not a project suggestion.) We're looking for people who can proactively identify both problems and their solutions. If you can do that, we'll keep you in mind when we're looking for help. We might even tap you to bring your own project to life.

GM/DGM Ship Names

I mentioned in my introduction post that I was trying out the concept of GM/DGM celebrity couple nicknames, or "ship names", as I'm told is the more popular term nowadays. The response I've gotten was pretty solid.

In an internal DC vote, "Bubtra" took the lead with 5 votes. "Abub" (submitted by Malfearak), "Atrubba" (submitted by Bubba), and "Dacatus" (submitted by Kamjin) had one vote each. Atra and James abstained from voting. An honourable mention goes to "Batbra" from Titius Osseus, who got bonus points for creativity, but was a bit too far outside the traditional "half of each name, glued together" format for us old fogies on the Council. Another mention goes to Howie's suggestion, which wasn't fit to print. (I'll leave it to the reader's imagination.) Thus, the DC seems to favour "Bubtra", and I plan to continue using that.

However, as Atra pointed out during the voting, ship names aren't something one votes on—they're a product of the zeitgeist. The one that "wins" is the one that catches people's imaginations. If you'd rather refer to our top two as Abub, or Atrubba, or Batbra, or Dacatus, or another name of your choosing, go nuts (provided it's kept PG-13 in public channels). It's your fandom, after all.

Closing Out

Thanks again to James for his help in getting the Activities menu and the Submit Gaming Scores link change rolled out so quickly. See you all in the next update!

Links

• Emissary Staff Google Group: [Log in to view e-mail addresses]
• Emissary Staff Suggestion Box: Click Here